Li Ganjie, deputy director of China's State Environment Protection Administration, has said at a biodiversity international forum in Kunming that the Chinese government will undergo historical changes on environmental protection and will further promote the protection of biodiversity throughout the country.

Jointly held by SEPA and the Yunnan Provincial Government, the forum "Colorful Yunnan" has been held to push forward the global protection of biodiversity and to exchange ideas and experiences in the field as well as to find solutions for challenges faced by biodiversity and promote international cooperation. Representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Forestry, and a number of domestic research organizations as well as delegates from the European Union, United Nations Environment Program and other international non-government organizations attended the forum.

Li says that China is one of the countries that has rich biodiversity and it is also one of the first countries to join the Convention on Biodiversity. He says the Chinese government has long attached great importance to the protection of biodiversity and has made a series of related laws and regulations and built up a mechanism in implementing the Convention on Biodiversity. He says that China is working on deepening the understanding of biodiversity protection rules and enhancing the supervision and management on ecosystem through innovative management in order to realize the goal of biodiversity protection by 2010.

Li says that China had set up 2395 nature reserves of various types and classes by 2006, which accounted for 15.8% of the country's total land space and effectively protected the majority of life forms.